Compelled to follow the trial of a serial killer and the gruesome murders of three little girls, the captivatingly enigmatic Kelly-Anne conducts her own covert search for a crucial piece of missing evidence needed to indict him—a snuff video of one of the victims—recklessly putting her own life and sanity at risk.
A pitch black and stylish blend of unsettling courtroom drama and disturbing cyber-thriller that will rattle you to the bone. Jury award winner of best feature, screenplay, score and performance at Fantasia International Film Festival. —Joseph Hernandez
Starring: Malu Galli, Zuleika Ferreira, Tavinho Teixeira, Samuel Santos, Edilson Silva
New York premiere
On the verge of losing their only source of work and shelter, tensions erupt as a community of exploited farmhands wage bloody rebellion against their employers. Taking the landowner hostage and forcing his wife to blockade herself in their armored smart car, a violent battle of wills ensues in a brilliantly staged depiction of real-world class warfare. Make no mistake, this politically charged survival horror with a body count is as savage and bleak as they come. —Joseph Hernandez
Starring: Masao Inoue, Yoshie Nakagawa, Ayako Iijima
Right up there with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Teinosuke Kinugasa’s fascinating 1926 masterwork A Page of Madness is one of the silent film era’s most distinctive horror films. Long lost and unseen, the film, in which a newly hired janitor in a mental hospital is put through a hallucinogenic and mentally disturbed ringer, is more than worthy of a new fandom. Brooklyn Horror is proud to present a special screening accompanied by a live score from The Flushing Remonstrance. —Matt Barone
Starring: Sidney Flanigan, Frederick Weller, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Ropp, Darius Fraser, Lachlan Watson, Jon Gries
New York premiere
Brea (Sidney Flanigan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always) regales her tale of a rare coin heist that went horribly sideways to a local sheriff who suspects there’s a lot more to her survival than she’s letting on. Only the Good Survive is a refreshingly unpredictable genre mash-up, skillfully walking a tonal tightrope between comedy, horror and heist film with vibrant abandon. —Joseph Hernandez
For truly scary filmmaking, look no further than this yearly dose of terrifying shorts, with 2023’s batch including new spins on folk horror, home invasions, and Christine-like automotive horror.
Stop Dead, dir. Emily Greenwood (UK)
A Whim to Kill, dir. Tiange Xiang (China)
Leech, dir. George Coley (UK)
Mosquito Lady, dir. Kristine Gerolaga (USA)
Alicia, dir. Tony Morales (Spain)
Ride Baby Ride, dir. Sofie Somoroff (USA)
I Wanna See, dir. Max Friedman (USA)
The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras, dir. Craig Williams (UK)
The Queue, dir. Michael Rich (USA)
My Scary Indian Wedding, dir. Ramone Menon (USA)
Starring: Lily Sullivan
New York premiere
With her career on the ropes, a journalist (Lily Sullivan, Evil Dead Rise) starts up an investigative podcast and happens upon a bizarre mystery involving a black brick destroying the lives of any who come across it. The deeper she digs into this artifact, the more disturbing the discoveries become. Then a package arrives on her doorstep. Contained to a single location and one on-screen actor, this fantastically creepy sci-fi thriller proves Sullivan is one of the most exciting new talents around. —Joseph Hernandez
Starring: Paige Gilmour, Shane Quigley Murphy, May Kelly, Chloe Wigmore, Joshua Whincup
World premiere
Dakota has had enough of her unhealthy and toxic relationship with Axel, but the feeling isn’t mutual. As she tries to end things, Axel begins turning into something different, something monstrous.
Both an uncompromising breakup film and a wild new entry into the body horror canon, co-directors Alix Austin and Keir Siewert’s debut feature roars with a punk edge and killer practical effects and soars via dynamite performances from newcomers Paige Gilmour and Shane Quigley-Murphy. —Matt Barone
Starring: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Rie Ino’o, Takashi Shimizu
North American premiere
More than two decades ago, a group of Japanese directors including Hideo Nakata, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Takashi Shimizu ushered in a new wave of horror cinema that completely changed the game. Tapping into visceral and subliminal fears inspired by the on-set of a rapid global technological takeover, these are the films that most clearly captured the anxieties of Y2K and created a new scare language that still permeates the genre today. Presented as part of BHFF’s celebration of Japanese horror, Fear in Focus: Japan. —Joseph Hernandez
